Trigger sprayers and packages of the subject type conventionally include a sprayer body with facility for mounting the body on the open end of a container. A trigger actuator is coupled to a pump mechanism within the sprayer body for manual activation by a user to draw liquid from within the container and direct the liquid along a passage in an outlet barrel on the sprayer body. A nozzle is mounted on the end of the barrel for rotation between one or more first positions for dispensing liquid from the passage in the barrel, and one or more second positions for blocking the dispensing of liquid. U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,732, for example, discloses a trigger sprayer in which the nozzle is rotatable between diametrically opposed “off” positions and diametrically opposed dispensing positions at 90° spacing from the “off” positions. The nozzle is adapted to dispense liquid in the form of a spray or a stream depending upon the selected dispensing position of the nozzle. A general object of the present invention is to provide a nozzle for a trigger sprayer that has improved flexibility in terms of varying the fluid dispensing patterns.
A trigger sprayer in accordance with one exemplary presently preferred embodiment of the invention includes a sprayer body having a barrel with an internal passage, and a nozzle mounted over an open end of the barrel for rotation between dispensing and non-dispensing positions. The nozzle has a plug that is received in the open end of the barrel passage. The plug has laterally opening windows positioned for selective registry with an internal axial slot in the wall of the barrel passage adjacent to the open end of the barrel. The windows in the plug connect with fluid outlets in the nozzle. The nozzle is rotatable around the end of the barrel selectively for bringing the windows into registry with the slot in the barrel to dispense fluid from the end of the nozzle.